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Cocktail Hats See the Light of Day

Did you get a cool pillbox hat from your mother? Do you keep visiting the same 1950s cocktail hat at the thrift shop? Do the cloches at Nordstrom make you swoon with envy? Here's how you can wear them on a casual weekend.

Bring a little night time glam to the daylight hours. Instead of being ultra casual, try jeans with strappy gold heels or a tee shirt with a sequin blazer. Maybe a pile of pearls with your henley. Don't forget lipstick! In the first set below, I uses sequins and patent heels to dress up jeans and a corduroy blazer. In the second set, I paired a velvet skirt and embellished flats with a chambray shirt.

Work in the colors. For decades, fine hats were part of a matching
outfit. Your hat would have been the same shade and maybe the same
material as your skirt and jacket. For one of the looks below, I went all out with a matching purse, skirt, manicure, and lip gloss. For the second look, I kept things more low key with just a matching bag.

Be retro. Many of these hats are vintage items. So think of how people from that period would have done casual. Stop thinking of tailored dresses and think jersey sportswear, capri pants, denim jackets, cotton skirts.

For this 1940s hat, I looked to Katharine Hepburn, particularly her love of wide-legged pants and loafers. I dressed it down with a loose sweater and kept things fun with a leopard print scarf.

For an early twentieth century hat with feathers, I thought about the women of Downton Abbey in their down time. (Note: I have not seen the third season. Spoil it for me and you will develop a karmatic allergy to peanut butter and puppies.) I used a comfy cotton maxi dress and booties. The leather jacket toughens things up a bit, but it's still a very feminine cut.

This post was requested by one of our amazing readers. I never would have thought of this if you hadn't asked, and it was really fun to put together. Do you have any other styling or shopping questions? We will do our best to answer them.

I've been waiting Anthropologie's ruffled bra and panty set to go on sale. What it lacks in the sex appeal of Anya's retro ensemble, it makes up for in cute ribbons and ruffles. The set is available in cream and pink, rose and black, or grey and black, but I prefer the dark of the latter to offset the sweetness of the look. The bra was $58, which is silly for a cotton, wireless sleep bra, but the price has dropped to $29.95. That's at least worth thinking about. $30 for panties, however, is still laughable.

Project Design is our own friendly competition where we put together collection of independent designers for you to rate on your very own imaginary runway.

Baby, it's cold outside. And the whipping winter winds will wreak havoc on your hair. So, snuggle up with a warm winter hat to keep you cute and cozy in the cold, cold world. Which hat will warm your head this winter?